Nigeria hailed by world public health body for effectively containing Ebola

THE International Association National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI)- an assembly of Public Health Institutes of the World- has hailed the Nigerian Government and its people for effectively containing the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) imported into the Country by a Liberian-American, Late Mr. Patrick Sawyer on July 20, 2014.

The IANPHI made this observation in a statement issued after its meeting in Paris, France, last week, and during the panel discussion on “Ebola: lessons learned for better preparedness and response” with the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Yaba, Lagos, Prof. Innocent A.O. Ujah, as a member of the panelist.

Ujah told The Guardian: “The successful containment of EVD by Nigeria was observed to weigh heavily in favour of result of political commitment at the highest level of Government under the leadership of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the immediate past President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, effective coordination by the Former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, the commitment of the Technical team and collaborating Partners.

“It was also noted that Nigeria took the lead and ownership in the control of the disease outbreak. The processes adopted by Nigeria in containing the EVD were seen as model for other nations to emulate.

“However, it was the view of the panelists that Nigeria and other countries must continue to maintain effective surveillance at the border posts, in addition to sensitizing the Public in the Practice of Infection prevention through regular hand washing practices and environmental hygiene.

“Nigeria was also praised for contributing over 250 volunteers to the African Union (AU) Ebola containment Team deployed to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the hardest hit countries where over 13,000 persons lost their lives to the dreaded disease. It was also recommended that the Treatment Research Group (TRG) on Ebola in Nigeria and other similar bodies in other affected countries should continue to generate data through research for better understanding of the disease, while institutional and technical capacity must be built and up-scaled for effective surveillance through laboratory facility upgrade to P4 (Biosafety Level 4) and training of experts in readiness to possible recurrence of the outbreak.”

The meeting of International Association of National of Public Health Institutes, an annual event was held in Paris from October 14 to 15, 2015. It was established 10 years ago with the mission to bolster global public health capacity by strengthening and linking the world’s national public health Institutes and a vision for a robust and fully integrated global network of global public health Institutes taking action to address critical public health challenges.

IANPHI now has over 100 countries with 130 Institutes in its membership, representing 89 per cent of world’s population and aimed at transforming health systems in low-resource countries through collective history, knowledge and scientific experts. The 2016 Annual Meeting would be hosted by China Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

Nigeria has three member Institutions including: NIMR as a foundation member; Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and National Public Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).